CONNECT!

A Newsletter on Business Immigration
October/November 2000 Issue

ELECTIONS:  The next issue of Connect! will contain a review of the recent elections and their impact on business immigration issues.

EMPLOYER ALERT:

DOL Publishes Regulations for New Nurses Category

• The Department of Labor (DOL) on August 22 published its interim final regulations implementing the new H-1C nonimmigrant program for registered nurses from the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act (PL 106-95). The regulations, which became effective on September 21, 2000, state that Congress modeled this program after the H-1A program that was created in 1989 and ended in 1995. The two categories share similar attestation elements for sponsors, but the H-1C law restricts the use of the new category to facilities located in Health Professional Shortage Areas. These areas are defined by the Department of Health and Human Services as areas that have shortages of primary care physicians. Sponsoring facilities also meet specific criteria regarding the percentage of patients treated who are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. DOL reports that only fourteen hospitals throughout the country will actually meet these criteria to hire H-1C nurses.

INS Publishes Regulations on National Interest Waivers for Physicians

• The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), on September 6, published interim regulations implementing the provisions in the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act relating to immigrant visas for physicians serving in Health Professional Shortage Areas. Under these provisions, doctors who agree to work for 3 or 5 years in a shortage area or at a VA facility may obtain permanent residence based on a "national interest waiver." These doctors are not required to obtain certification that there are no U.S. workers able, willing and qualified for their position. The law reintroduces this waiver, which the INS had previously administratively terminated. 

Agricultural Worker Petitions Soon Filed with DOL

• INS has delegated to DOL authority to adjudicate H-2A petitions for nonimmigrant agricultural workers as of November 13, 2000. As of that date, employers wishing to sponsor temporary agricultural workers must file both their petitions and their temporary labor certification applications directly with the DOL. DOL will make the final determination on both the petition and the labor certification, which is filed on a new form ETA-9079. This new form contains elements of both the ETA-750 and I-129 forms. DOL also is charging a new sliding-scale fee for the labor certification based on the number of nonimmigrants sought. This fee is in addition to the current $110 filing fee for the petition. 

CONGRESSIONAL NEWS:

End of Session Wrap-Up – How Did Immigration Issues Fare?

For business immigration advocates, the 106th Congress contained ups and downs but ends on a high note. Here are some highlights:

H-1Bs: An All-Around Win

Following months during which seemingly unstoppable H-1B legislation was stopped by partisan clashes, Congress in October finally passed and the President signed into law, S. 2045, the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (P.L. 106-313, "AC21"). This much-needed legislation increases the H-1B cap to 195,000 for the next three fiscal years. In an additional nod to the power of the high-tech community that pushed so hard for this legislation, the bill also contained several green card-related provisions that provide relief to employers and immigrants from lengthy INS and Department of Labor processing delays and the per-country quotas. This legislation represents a major victory for business immigration advocates.

House Republican leadership initially put much of its political weight behind a bill that employer groups and business immigration advocates opposed. (H.R. 4277, sponsored by Immigration Subcommittee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX).) Momentum on this measure stalled when it became clear that there were insufficient votes on the floor to pass the measure, and the business community supported a different vehicle (H.R. 3983, sponsored by Rules Committee Chair David Dreier (R-CA), and Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)). Hope then turned to the Senate, which earlier had passed in committee a popular H-1B measure (S. 2045, sponsored by Judiciary Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Immigration Subcommittee Chair Spencer Abraham (R-MI)). After months of negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans over the details of how the bill could be debated and whether or not other immigration measures supported by the Democrats and the White House could be offered as amendments, a series of procedural votes ended with the October 3 Senate passage (by a vote of 96-1) of the bill. The House quickly followed suit and passed AC21 by voice vote.

Early support of the H-1B increase from key Democrats, including House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO) and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), significantly changed the tenor of the debate this year from previous years during which the focus was on adding new restrictions on the category. This year, most Democrats supported the H-1B program and pushed for increased education and training of U.S. workers as a condition of the increase. Relatively little debate was heard over the need for the increase. In addition, Representative Gephardt's support during the crucial hours after Senate passage ensured the bill's rapid consideration and passage in the House.

The president signed the bill on October 17, 2000, and most of AC21's provisions were effective upon enactment.

Summary of Provisions in AC21:

• H-1B Cap: Increases the cap to 195,000 for FYs 2001, 2002, and 2003. Cap reverts to 65,000 in FY2004.
  
  

• H-1B Count:  Prohibits the INS from counting anyone toward the H-1B cap if they held H-1B status at any time during the previous six years, unless the individual would be authorized for a new six-year period of stay at the time the petition is filed.
  
  

• Backlog Clear-out:  Mandates that all H-1B cases approved in 1999 after the cap was reached and before October 1, 1999 are counted against the FY 1999 cap, and all cases filed before September 1, 2000 are to be counted against the FY 2000 cap, regardless of when they are approved. The caps for those years are raised to accommodate however many visas this would require. This provision is meant to ensure that the full 195,000 visas are available for the current fiscal year with no "carry-over" from previous years.
  
  

• Exemption from the Cap:  Exempts individuals employed at higher educational institutions and their related or affiliated nonprofit entities, and individuals employed by nonprofit research organizations or governmental research organizations from being counted toward the H-1B cap. (An exemption from the cap for foreign graduates of U.S. masters or Ph.D. programs that was in a previous version of the bill was deleted before final passage). Also, H-1B physicians who have received a J-1 Conrad 20 waiver of the two-year home residency requirement are exempt from the cap. Anyone exempt from the cap by virtue of employment with one of the above-described entities who subsequently changes to a non-exempt employer would be counted toward the cap in the year of the change.
  
  

• Per Country Limits:  Allows unused employment-based immigrant visas in a calendar quarter to be allocated in subsequent quarters without regard to per-country limits. Allows an individual who has an I-140 (Petition for Immigrant Worker) filed on his or her behalf and who would be subject to per-country limits to extend his or her nonimmigrant status until the adjustment of status application is decided.
  
  

• Portability of H-1B Status: Allows H-1B nonimmigrants to change jobs upon the filing of a new petition by the new employer as long as the individual is in lawful status at the time of filing and has not engaged in any unauthorized employment since his or her last lawful admission.
  
  

• Portability of I-140s and Labor Certs:  Allows individuals who have filed for adjustment of status and whose cases have been pending for 180 days or more to change jobs or employers without affecting the validity of the I-140 or underlying labor certification, as long as the new job is in "the same or a similar occupational classification" to the job in the original petition and labor certification.
  
  

• Sixth-Year Extension for H-1Bs Awaiting Green Cards:  Provides that H-1B nonimmigrants for whom an I-140 has been filed and whose labor certification or I-140 was filed at least 365 days prior, may obtain extensions of their H-1B status beyond the six-year maximum, in one-year increments, until their adjustment of status or immigrant visa application is decided.
  
  

• Backlog Reduction Provisions:  Incorporates the text of the Immigration Services and Infrastructure Improvement Act (S. 2586, introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)), which provides for the creation of a new Immigration Services and Infrastructure Improvement Account to help reduce INS processing times and eliminate the backlog of pending cases. The provision requires INS to provide Congress a backlog elimination plan within 90 days of the bill's enactment, and annual reports on their service provision situation and progress toward improvement.
  
  

• Recovery of Fraudulent Visas:  Provides that for any H-1B petition revoked for fraud or willful misrepresentation, the visa number shall be added back to the cap in the year the petition is revoked, regardless of when the visa was actually issued.
  
  

• Recapture of Unused Employment-based Immigrant Visas:  Provides that any employment-based immigrant visas that were available but unused in FY 1999 and FY 2000 are to be "banked" for use in future fiscal years if the demand for employment-based visas exceeds the overall cap for that year. (This shall take place in addition to any "spill up" of unused visas to the family preferences that would occur otherwise.)
  
  

• Extension of Attestations and DOL Investigative Authorities Through 2003:  Extends the additional attestations and DOL investigative authorities from the 1998 H-1B law through FY 2003.
  
  

• Education and Training Provisions:  A separate, accompanying law, P.L. 106-311, signed by President Clinton the same day as AC21, will increase the education and training fee paid by H-1B employers to $1000 as of December 2000. AC21 changes how these fees are allocated as follows: 

  • 55% of the fees go toward DOL demonstration programs and projects to provide technical skills training for workers.  Training shall not necessarily be at the level of a baccalaureate degree, but preparation for workers at a broad range along the career ladder. 75% of the grants shall be given to workforce investment boards or consortia of such boards in a region, to be decided in consultation with the Department of Commerce.  25% of the grants will go to partnerships of at least two businesses or a business-related nonprofit organization that represents more than one business, and may include any educational, labor, community organization or workforce investment board. 80% of grants will be for skills training in high technology, information technology, and biotechnology and no more than 20% to training workers for skills in other H-1B-type specialty occupations.
    
    

  • 22% of the fees will go toward low-income scholarships instituted in ACWIA ("Abraham scholarships")
    
    

  • 15% of the fees will go toward NSF competitive grants for K-12 math, technology and science education.
    
    

  • 4% of fees go to both the Department of Justice and the INS for H-1B case processing and enforcement of those attestations under their jurisdiction (up from a current 1.5%).
    
    

  • 4% of fees go to the Department of Labor for enforcement and processing of LCAs.

• Studies and Reports:  Requires a new NSF study on the divergence of access to high technology ("digital divide") and a Department of Commerce review of existing public and private high-tech workforce training programs in the U.S. 
  
  

• Kids 2000:  Provides after-school technology grants to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Up to $20 million may be appropriated for FYs 2001-2006 to the Attorney General to fund grants under this program. Such funds may come from the Violent Crime Control Trust Fund.
  
  

• Reduced Filings for H-1B Employers Undergoing Restructuring:  A provision in another law, the Visa Waiver bill (see article below), eliminates the requirement that employers undergoing certain corporate restructuring must file amended petitions with the INS on behalf of their H-1B employees.

Section 110: Compromise Reduces the Threat

President Clinton signed into law H.R. 4489, the INS Data Management Improvement Act (Public Law No. 106-215) on June 15. This law effectively replaces Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ("IIRAIRA"), which would have required the INS to create and implement new automated entry and exit controls at all ports of entry. The new law instead mandates that the INS create a centralized database to organize and coordinate entry and exit data currently collected at ports of entry. The bill also creates a new public-private task force that will review the system and current border practices and provide recommendations for improvements.

This law, another major victory this Congress for business immigration advocates, represents a compromise between the major proponent of Section 110, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), and opponents of the program, including the business, trade, and travel industries, and the Canadian and Mexican governments, who view Section 110 as a serious impediment to cross-border commerce. While the law removes the immediate threat of significant new entry-exit controls, the law does propose to continue to examine the feasibility of such a system. Business immigration advocates are urged to remain vigilant against any future implementation of this ill-advised system.

Essential Workers:  Laying the Groundwork

This year saw a rarely-seen phenomenon – conservatives and liberals, unions and employer groups, immigration advocates and religious and ethnic communities, coming together to support legislative proposals that would grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Why have employer groups joined in support of these proposals? The longest peacetime economic expansion in our country's history and the decline of our working-age population have combined to create the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years. As employers in all sectors of the economy and areas of the country are feeling the pinch of trying to fill jobs, they are looking more and more toward immigrants and immigration to fill needed positions.

Thus was born the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (EWIC), a Washington, DC-based group of employers and trade associations representing hospitality, manufacturing, service providers, construction, trucking and other interests that rely heavily on labor—"essential workers"—for their businesses. This coalition has, in a relatively short time, become a major player in the push for additional immigrant workers in the U.S.

EWIC supports the three provisions that constitute the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act (LIFA), introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and others, because they would help to regularize the status of about 800,000 people who were victims of the INS' misinterpretation of the 1986 legalization program (by updating the registry date), aid refugee victims of civil conflict treated inequitably in the past decade (by passing NACARA parity), and regularize the status of individuals who are qualified for immigrant visas through a close family member or an employer relationship (by restoring Section 245(i).  Regularizing the status of these individuals already in the U.S. would expand the legal workforce, especially important in tight labor markets that are projected to continue for two decades. LIFA has been the subject on ongoing battles between Congressional Democrats and Republicans, with most Democrats favoring LIFA and most Republicans supporting a less expansive proposal, the LIFE Act. This issue is hot in a presidential election year when the Hispanic and immigrant vote may play a major role. President Clinton has indicated he will veto a major government spending bill because LIFA is not included.  Congress will need to address this issue in a post-election lame-duck session.

The restoration of Section 245(i), NACARA parity, and updating the registry date are first steps toward regularize the status of the existing U.S. workforce. EWIC will be working with the next Congress to adopt broader reforms that will provide a lawful mechanism in our immigration system for sponsorship of foreign nationals in these important and "essential" jobs.

INS Reorganization:  No Agreement Results in No Action

No immigration issue was hotter at the beginning of the 106th Congress than the restructuring of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Plagued with ever increasing backlogs of applications, management problems and increasing conflict of mission, Congress pointedly had informed the agency it would be in for a change. But now, near adjournment, the issue has been put off for a new President and a new Congress to tackle.  Businesses that employ foreign nationals know that the inability of the INS to efficiently function has been a serious impediment to their business plans, and has harmed untold numbers of immigrants and their families. Legislative changes to the immigration system are largely irrelevant if the agency cannot process cases in a timely manner. The next Administration and Congress must positively address the issue of INS restructuring. Hopefully the impediments to positive reform that were evident during this Session will be replaced by constructive proposals.

What happened this session? In November 1999, two major restructuring proposals emerged. House Immigration Subcommittee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) and the Chairman of the appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the agency, Representative Hal Rodgers (R-KY), proposed splitting the agency in two, creating a new Bureau of Enforcement, and a new Bureau of Adjudications. These bureaus would have separate administrators, with no coordination between them, and separate budgets. Fearing that this structure would result in an overfunding of and overemphasis on enforcement to the detriment of services, immigration advocates rallied behind bipartisan proposal championed by Senate Immigration Subcommittee Chair Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and Ranking Member Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA). Their proposal would have restructured the agency and elevated it within the Department of Justice. (Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) introduced a similar proposal in the House). Their proposal would separate the functions of enforcement and adjudications, but coordinate them under a new Associate Attorney General for Immigration Affairs. The Clinton Administration had its own proposal to internally reorganize the agency that would have kept the INS intact but realigned its positions into separate chains of command for enforcement and services, while sharing support services and policy direction at the top. 

While Chairmen Smith and Rodgers promised to move forward with their proposal in 2000, presidential politics entered the equation. As their bill was scheduled for committee consideration, Republican contender Governor George W. Bush indicated that he preferred the Senate's approach. Faced with moving a proposal contrary to their national standard-bearer, the Republicans dropped the issue, leaving the fate of the INS to a new President and a new Congress.

Other Issues:  Visa Waiver, Religious Workers and Long-term Reform

• Visa Waiver (includes H-1B merger provisions and EB-5 program extension):  Congress finally granted permanent status to the Visa Waiver Program late in the session (H.R. 3767, P.L. 106-396). First enacted in 1986, the Visa Waiver Program was established as a pilot program to waive the need to apply for a visa for foreign visitors from countries that had good track records of obeying American immigration laws. Over the years, the pilot program has been extended several times and expanded to include 29 countries. Millions of business visitors and tourists use this program to visit the U.S., and our consular offices abroad have saved millions of dollars by not having to process all of these visa applications. The program has been especially important to the tourism industry, encouraging and facilitating tourism from member countries, and for business visitors who use the program to expand business trade between the U.S. and other countries. Removal of the "pilot" designation from this program means that these constituents will not need to face every few years the uncertainty of Congressional renewal.

The bill also contained provisions that would eliminate a requirement that H-1B employers that undergo corporate restructuring file new petitions for all of their H-1B employees, extend a pilot program in the immigrant investor ("EB-5") visa category for investments in regional enterprise zones, and provide immigration status for foreign employees of INTELSAT as it undergoes privatization.

• Religious Workers. Congress has also extended once again the green card program for religious workers (H.R. 4068, P.L. 106-409). Established as a pilot program in 1990, this provision of law allows thousands of monks, nuns, cantors, imams and other religious workers to obtain permanent residence status to continue their ministry in the U.S. 
  
  

• Long-Term Reform. Congress also is beginning to look at the issues of long-term reform of our nation's immigration laws. The tremendous backlogs in the family reunification immigrant visa categories, and the inefficiencies and delays in the business immigration stream, require that Congress once again re-think the best immigration policies for our country. Such reform needs to promote family unity, our economy, and fairness; the three principles upon which our immigration system was established. While no broad legal immigration legislation has been debated this year, both business and family advocates sense the positive shift in attitudes regarding immigrants and immigration, and with the current economy supporting them, are looking toward broader reforms next year.

AGENCY NEWS

DOL Issues "Guidelines" for Revamped Labor Certification Programs

DOL on August 25, 2000 published a notice in the Federal Register describing its "guidelines" for development of its revised labor certification program, "PERM." Although DOL has been trying to reengineer the labor certification program for several years, the PERM program represents the first step toward a new, more streamlined system for certifying, as required by law, that U.S. workers are not able, willing and qualified for a position offered to a foreign national. Practitioners, employers and employees are hopeful that this system will result in a shorter and more transparent labor certification program.

Although the "notice of guidelines" is not a proposed regulation, it offers very concrete information regarding how the PERM system may operate. The new system will be based primarily on the current procedures for "Reduction in Recruitment" (RIR) filing. As in RIR, an employer would submit evidence of its own unsuccessful recruitment instead of undertaking DOL-supervised and directed recruitment to show a lack of U.S. workers. The employer would be required to obtain a prevailing wage determination from the local job service in the state of employment, engage in its own recruitment, and then submit an attestation to the DOL regional office that no qualified U.S. workers were found. The recruitment would consist of certain "mandatory steps" and other "alternative steps" that the employer must complete and certify on the attestation. The attestation would be entered into a computer system that would check it for completeness, and whether it contains information that would "flag" the application for additional examination. DOL would select these "flags" that would indicate "problematic" applications needing in-depth review or audit. Certain applications also would be randomly selected for this review procedure. If no "flags" are hit, the attestation could be certified in 7 to 21 working days. If selected for an audit, the employer could be sent a letter requesting documentation to support its attestations. Following an audit, a case could be approved, denied, or the employer may be required to engage in additional supervised recruitment.

Although not included in the "guidelines," DOL previously has stated that this attestation process will rely on post-approval enforcement actions to maintain the program's integrity. Since most applications would receive little or no human scrutiny, DOL promises to conduct post-approval "audits" of random employers as well as base-line "compliance" audits to determine certain industries' levels of compliance with the program's rules. Although DOL states that any post-approval investigation will not result in a foreign national's permanent residence being withdrawn, many employers are still fearful of the disruption such audits may cause for their business and the foreign nationals they employ.

DOL has not yet established a date to implement this new program. Although DOL hopes for a Spring 2001 start-up, a more realistic assessment would be next fall at the earliest, since the new system will require extensive revisions to DOL regulations, and notice and comment periods for the affected public.

Employers have a vested interest in streamlining the labor certification process, and, especially, in making it comport more with the real world of business recruiting. The business community will be closely monitoring the PERM program implementation to assure that it meets these goals.

SPOTLIGHT:  Election 2000: Pro-Immigration Rhetoric Is Now PC

Immigrant voters are becoming a powerful force in determining the political future of our country. Immigrants, particularly Latino voters, are the pivotal voting group in many key battleground states during this year's election, and some analysts believe that they could determine the outcome not only of the presidency, but key House and Senate races. Therefore, being perceived as pro-immigrant and pro-immigration is becoming "politically correct."

Both the Democratic and Republican parties' official platforms this year reflect support for immigration and immigrants. The Republican platform especially has dramatically changed: the Republican platform for the 1996 election contained virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric that, some argue, helped lead to the passage of the overly harsh 1996 immigration laws that retroactively punished legal residents for minor offenses committed long ago, resulting in the separation of families and the loss of quality employees.

The platforms interestingly reveal a clear difference in the way the two parties view immigration and immigrants. That distinction echoes throughout and, it can be argued, reflects the parties' more general views about the important forces that should drive immigration policy. The Republican platform, while demonstrating opposition to undocumented immigrants, views legal immigration largely through the lens of economics, specifically the benefits that immigrant workers can bring to business or their potential drag on the economy. The Republican platform appears blind to other concerns in immigration policy, such as family reunification or ensuring due process rights of immigrants. The Democratic platform, on the other hand, views immigration primarily through the lens of family reunification and civil rights, but also shows concern about the negative effect that immigrants may have on American workers.

Following are excerpts from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) platforms on key immigration issues.

Employment-based Immigration

DNC: Is committed to punishing employers who exploit undocumented workers, and providing strengthened protections for immigrant workers, including whistleblower protections.

RNC: Endorses the recommendations of the Jordan Commission that would emphasize needed skills in determining eligibility for admission, and overhaul the Labor Certification Program.

Enforcement

DNC: Notes that President Clinton and Vice President Gore supported "a major expansion of the Border Patrol and curbs on abuses of the asylum process." The Party also recognizes "that the current system fails to effectively control illegal immigration, has serious adverse impacts on state and local services, and on many communities and workers, and has led to an alarming number of deaths of migrants on the border. Democrats are committed to reexamining and fixing these failed policies."

RNC: Believes that the Clinton Administration's "lax enforcement of our borders has led to tragic exploitation of smuggled immigrants, and untold suffering, at the hands of law-breakers." As a result, the RNC supports "harsh penalties against smugglers and those who provide fake documents," but opposes the creation of any national ID card. The RNC also would devote more resources to border control and internal enforcement operations.

Essential Workers

DNC: Recognizes that recent immigrants are employed as essential workers,  "provide invaluable services to American society," and "their work has great dignity." The DNC is committed to ensuring that essential workers "are treated with dignity, respect, and fairness on the job."

RNC: Does not specifically address essential workers but states that immigration policy should "emphasize needed skills in determining eligibility for admission."

H-1B Visas

DNC: Believes that any increases in H-1B visas "must be temporary, must address only genuine shortages of highly skilled workers, and must include worker protections. They must also be accompanied by other immigration fairness measures and by increased fees to train American workers for high skill jobs."

RNC: Credits the H-1B program with providing "much of the highly skilled labor that makes rapid technological progress possible." It also states: "To meet immediate needs, however, we support increasing the number of H-1B visas to ensure high-tech workers in specialized positions, provided such workers do not pose a national security risk."

H-2A (Agricultural Worker) Visas

DNC: Is committed to assuring an adequate, predictable supply of agricultural labor. However, the platform rejects "guest worker programs that lead to exploitation," and instead endorses policies that would "call for adjusting the status of immigrants with deep roots in the country."

RNC: Will "expand the H-2A program for the temporary agricultural workers so important to the nation's farms."

INS Reform

DNC: Supports "reforming the INS to provide better services, and investing the resources needed to reduce the backlog of citizenship applications from nearly two years to three months."

RNC: Believes that, "To ensure fairness for those wishing to reside in this country, and to meet the manpower needs of our expanding economy, a total overhaul of the immigration system is sorely needed." The Party also endorses the recommendation of the Jordan Commission to split the INS into two agencies, one focusing on enforcement and one exclusively devoted to service.

Immigrants (General)

DNC: Immigrants "enrich the tapestry of American life, making our economy more vibrant, our workplaces more productive, and our nation stronger. We believe that all levels of government, in partnership with the private and voluntary sectors, must devise and pursue a comprehensive immigrant integration agenda that will make the newest Americans full participants in the nation's mainstream."

RNC: The U.S. has "reaped enormous human capital in the genius and talent and industry of those who have escaped nations captive to totalitarianism. Our country still attracts the best and brightest to invent here, create wealth here, improve the quality of life here." Welcomes "all new Americans who have entered lawfully and are prepared to follow our laws and provide for themselves and their families."

Family-based Immigration

DNC: Believes "that family reunification should continue to be the cornerstone of our legal immigration system." The DNC also supports "an effective immigration system that balances a strong enforcement of our laws with fair and evenhanded treatment of immigrants and their families."

RNC: Would reorganize family preferences to give priority to spouses and children of immigrants (rather than extended family members). Gives more attention to the need for additional workers for employers.

POINT OF INTEREST . . .

Airport Inspection Missteps Result in District Director's Resignation

Following a series of investigations by Members of Congress and the INS and numerous media reports of mistreatment of arriving foreign nationals at the Portland International Airport in Oregon, INS District Director David Beebe resigned on September 19. An internal INS investigation revealed that the district had a rigid, overly adversarial approach to screening applicants and that improperly supervised inspectors had broken agency rules. The Portland Mayor and local Congressional representatives charged that this situation caused a major airline to end the only direct flights between Portland and Tokyo, costing the city millions in travel and tourist dollars.